Excerpts from the Parke-Bernet Auction Catalog of November 1948 containing descriptions of oriental manuscripts being sold from the collection of a 'distinguished continental collector.'  This collector was Otto Mettler-Specker and many of the manuscripts were purchased from the Karl Hiersemann Antiquariat of Leipzig and could be found described in the famous Hiersemann 500 auction catalog.  The Syriac manuscripts owned by Mettler-Specker in particular were of importance because they were Chalcedonian, probably originating from St Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai.  The fate of many of the manuscripts sold at this auction is presently unknown and it is assumed that North American libraries and collectors probably own them, not fully realizing their provenance, history, or importance. 

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